Comparing the Poetry of Lanston Hughes and Countee Cullen Essay

Comparing the Poetry of Lanston Hughes and Countee CullenUpon first glance the differences between Hughes and Cullen search very clear. Hughes writes in rhythm, while Cullens writes in rhyme, but those are scarce the stylistic differences. Hughes and Cullen may write poems in a disparate elan but they both write some similar themes. The time they wrote in was during the Harlem Renaissance, a time period when African Americans were discovering their heritage and trying to convey accepted in the once white dominated society. The African Americans had their deliver cultures and their own style of music and writing but they wanted everyvirtuoso to pick out they were inactive human, that they were still American, even though the differences in color were apparent. During this while African Americans were facing the challenges of accepting their heritage or ignoring outright to affirm a variant lifestyle for their day to day lives. Hughes and Cullen wrote poems that seemed to d escribe themselves, or African Americans, who had accepted their African Heritage and who also wanted to be a part of American heritage as well. These are roughly of the things they have in common, as well as what is different about them based on appearance, now I shall focus on from each one author individually and talk about how they are different afterwards. Lanston Hughes focuses more on rhythm then on rhyme, for example, the poem The Weary blue devils reads like a blues song, which is what the poem is about. Mother to Son is a conversation a mother has to a child about what age life has been, and that no matter how hard life may seem, one should never give up climbing the stairs. The poem seems to swag from good English to Black English and then back again, which to me shows... ... different authors from two different ways of life could write poems in different styles about the same topics. Hughes with his blues infused poems and Cullens with his Negro spirit and Christi an upbringing (Ferguson), both of these men inspired hundreds of people and their work can still make an impact on those that read it. It sure did for me. I recommend these poems to anyone, and I hope that everyone can enjoy and appreciate them as lots as I have.Works CitedTracy, Steven C. Langston Hughes & The Blues. Illinois, 1988.Ferguson, Blanche E. Countee Cullen and the Negro Renaissance. New York, 1066About Countee Cullens Life. 21 Mar. 2001. Modern American Poetry. 11 Nov. 2003 http//www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?prmID=84Langston Hughes. Apr 3, 2002. Poets.org 11 Nov. 2003 http//www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/cullen/life.htm